As of 2023, solar energy was the world's third-largest renewable energy technology, behind wind and hydropower — nearly 5. 5% of global electricity generation came from solar energy in the first half of 2023, most commonly from solar photovoltaics (PV). Ember (2026); Energy Institute - Statistical Review of World Energy (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data This dataset contains yearly electricity generation, capacity, emissions, imports and demand data for European countries. You can find more about Ember's methodology in this. Solar power includes solar farms as well as local distributed generation, mostly on rooftops and increasingly from community solar arrays. In 2025, utility-scale solar power generated 295. 7 terawatt-hours (TWh) in the United States. Solar power generation has increased drastically over the past two decades, especially since 2011, when it hovered just below two terawatt. Note: Capacity values represent the amount of generating capacity at utility-scale power plants (greater than 1 megawatt). In our latest Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), we expect that U.